Environmental Hazard Risk Mitigation System, Method and Computer Program Product in Urban and Suburban Environments

1. A network comprising: a plurality of intermediate device system (IDS) members, each IDS member coupled to a respective pole structure that electrically connects to a power source, each IDS member comprising a local input interface, a sensor configured to sense a parameter of an environmental condition of an area proximate to an IDS member that comprising a detection IDS member, the sensor comprising a camera, wherein an optical field of view of the camera includes a predetermined region of a pathway, the optical field of view overlaps another optical field of view of a neighboring IDS member, and an image sensor that captures optical information of the predetermined region of the pathway, a pole mounted housing that contains therein processing circuitry configured to receive the parameter of the environmental condition from the sensor and the optical information, and a non-transitory computer readable memory that has code stored therein that upon execution of the code by the processing circuitry causes the processing circuitry to implement an AI engine that is trained to, upon receipt of the optical information and the parameter of the environmental condition, detect an existence of black ice or a time at which black ice estimated to form on a portion of the predetermined region of the pathway having the black ice or on which the black ice is estimated to form, and output a status indication of black ice, and a wireless transceiver configured to transmit a wireless message that includes a real-time alert to a remote receiver, the wireless message including the status indication of the black ice and information about a location of the black ice on the portion of the predetermined region of the pathway, wherein the remote receiver is hosted in at least one of a vehicle, a mobile device of a pedestrian, a neighboring IDS member, a road-side device that provides a wireless relay function, or a municipal/county facility.

2. The network of claim 1, wherein at least one IDS member of the plurality of IDS members configured to map the location of the black ice on the pathway and send the mapped location to the remote receiver.

3. The network of claim 1, further comprising: a transceiver comprising the remote receiver the transceiver hosted in one of the vehicle and the mobile device of the pedestrian, and upon receipt of a reply message from the transceiver of the remote receiver that informs the detection IDS member of a planned travel path of the remote receiver, the detection IDS member transmits another signal to another device along the planned travel path and closer to the remote receiver than the detection IDS member so as to trigger the another device to generate a visual and/or an audio alert.

4. The network of claim 1, wherein a location of the remote receiver being in a municipal and/or a county facility.

5. The network of claim 4, wherein the processing circuitry configured to implement an event counter with a weighted algorithm that prioritizes an alert report with at least one parameter showing a traffic load at the portion of the portion of the predetermined region of the pathway having the black ice or on which the black ice estimated to form.

6. The network of claim 5, wherein the alert report includes at least one image taken by the camera, the camera having a filter.

7. The network of claim 1, wherein the wireless message comprising a V2X signal generated by the IDS detection member and the remote receiver hosted in the vehicle, the V2X signal transmitted at a time of reception by the vehicle as the vehicle passes the portion of the predetermined region of the pathway having the black ice or on which the black ice estimated to form.

8. The network of claim 1, wherein the wireless message comprising a V2X signal generated by the IDS detection member and the remote receiver hosted in the vehicle, the V2X signal transmitted at a time of reception by the vehicle as the vehicle approaches the portion of the predetermined region of the pathway having the black ice or on which the black ice estimated to form.

9. The network of claim 1, wherein the detection IDS member further comprises a secondary thermal probe that monitors an ambient temperature in the area proximate to the detection IDS member.

10. The network of claim 9, wherein real time input from the camera and/or the secondary thermal probe analyzed by the AI engine pre-emptively detects and triggers generation of a black ice alert prior to an icing event.

11. A network comprising: a plurality of intermediate device system (IDS) members, wherein each IDS member coupled to a pole structure electrically connected to a power source, and an IDS detection member of the plurality of IDS members comprising: a pole mounted housing, the pole mounted housing sized to host and retain therein a local input device, a resident memory that stores AI code that upon execution by a processor implements an AI engine trained to detect black ice, the processor, an output device, a transceiver, and a communicatively coupled auxiliary sensing device that senses an environmental parameter of an area surrounding the IDS detection member, a controller communicatively coupled to the processor and a vehicle, wherein the auxiliary sensing device comprising at least one camera, a field of vision of the camera covers a defined portion of a road and overlap with a field of vision of a neighboring IDS member, the camera has at least one filter configured to detect an environmentally adverse roadway condition, input received from the camera by the processor analyzed by code programmed to identify a presence of black ice on a portion of the roadway, and under a condition black ice detected or the AI engine determines an imminent presence of black ice, the transceiver of the IDS detection member dispatches in in real time an alert by at least one of an electronic signal, an audio signal or a visual signal so as to warn the vehicle and/or pedestrian traveling toward the portion of the roadway having the black ice from a plurality of directions.

12. The network of claim 11, further comprising a light emitting signal coupled to at least one pole along a path of travel of the vehicle and/or pedestrian se as to alert the vehicle and/or pedestrian of a black icing presence further ahead of the path of travel.

13. The network of claim 11, wherein the IDS detection member is configured to generate a map that defines an outer boundary of the portion of the roadway on which the black ice is present.

14. The network of claim 11, wherein the IDS detection member further comprising at least one sensing device that, in addition to the camera, provides real time inputs to the processor in determining environmental conditions that give rise to a black ice event.

15. The network of claim 11, wherein the AI engine is trained to learn spectral characteristics of an environment proximate to the IDS detection member, and the spectral characteristics are separated by at least one of: time of day and season of the year.

16. The network of claim 15, wherein the AI engine is trained to learn and adapt to changes in spectral light distribution reflected from a vehicular and/or a pedestrian path of travel over time.

17. The network of claim 11, wherein the IDS detection member nearest an icing event location comprising a primary alerting entity of the plurality of IDS members.

18. The network of claim 11, wherein the transceiver of the IDS detection member employs a plurality of communication protocols to communicate alerts to vehicles and remote clients.

19. The network of claim 11, wherein the transceiver is configured to generate a V2X signal containing at least one operational parameter used to control a vehicle as the vehicle approaches the portion of the roadway where black ice detected.

20. The method of detecting black ice on a pathway and alerting a remote receiver of the black ice, comprising: coupling intermediate device system (IDS) members to respective pole structures, each pole structure being electrically connected to a power source; sensing with a sensor of a detection IDS member a parameter of an environmental condition of an area proximate to the detection IDS member, the sensor comprising a camera, wherein the camera has an optical field of view that includes a predetermined region of a pathway, the optical field of view overlaps another optical field of view of a neighboring IDS member; capturing with an image sensor of the camera optical information of the predetermined region of the pathway; receiving at processing circuitry the parameter of the environmental condition from the sensor and the optical information, and executing code by the processing circuitry to implement an AI engine trained to, upon receipt of the optical information and the parameter of the environmental condition, detect an existence of black ice or a time at which black ice estimated to form on a portion of the predetermined region of the pathway having the black ice or on which the black ice estimated to form, the executing including detecting the indication of black ice and outputting a status indication of black ice; transmitting from a wireless transceiver a wireless message that includes a real-time alert to a remote receiver, the wireless message including the status indication of the black ice and information about a location of the black ice on the portion of the predetermined region of the pathway, receiving at the remote receiver the status indication; and controlling an operation of at least one of a vehicle in which the remote receiver is located to adjust an operation of the vehicle to reduce a risk of a traffic accident caused by the black ice, a mobile device of a pedestrian to alert the pedestrian of the black ice, a neighboring IDS member or a road-side device to trigger the neighboring IDS member to generate and transmit a relay message, a computer at a municipal/county facility to generate an alert message.